Meditation 26*

Love through the Holy Spirit

And hope does not put us to shame,
because God’s love has been poured out
into our hearts through the Holy Spirit,
who has been given to us.
Romans 5:5

Pentecost is a glorious celebration, but the contents of our thought and the holy stimulant of our joy on Pentecost lay hidden deep in our spirit. This Holy Spirit, who descended on Pentecost, is the eternal and veritable God; of one substance and co-eternal with the Father and the Son; proceeding from both Father and Son.

“You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout...; say to the towns of Judah, ‘Here is your God!’” (Isaiah 40:9). This text is a fitting song of jubilation as the Spirit is descending, even though it is different from the birth of the Son. There is no manger, no cloths in which to bind Him, no singing of the angel choir. When the Spirit descends, there is nothing your eye sees, your ear hears or your hand touches of the Spirit of life. To be sure, there were sounds and flaring flames, but of only momentary duration without repetition. Just for once; more symbol than reality. It was a sign rather than the event itself that, being wholly spiritual, hid in spiritual mystery.

But still, even here it is a matter of your God Himself coming! Not in a weaker sense or more external, but in a more intimate and deeper sense than in Paradise, on Sinai or at the manger in Bethlehem, for here your God does not come to you but in you. Not in order to live among you but in you; not as happened in Paradise from where He withdrew, but to be with you eternally, to stay with you permanently. This is a mystery of inexpressible majesty, which is precisely the reason that it astonishes us more than speaks to us, it surprises us more than that it rationally convinces us.

Zion, that is, the Church of God, hardly dares to accept that her God Himself came to her when the Holy Spirit was poured out. She lacks the courage of faith to actually imagine this immense and most glorious fact that God chose her as His temple. That is why she modifies this joyful fact, debases and minimizes the Lord’s deeds. In her minimal faith and unbelief she pretends that a portion of God’s holy power came to Zion on Pentecost, but not God Himself. Isn’t that astounding?

Think of it. Anyone daring to assert of the Bethlehem manger that it was not God Himself who came to us there, but merely a power of God, flies in the face of all God’s people. Such a claim will be rejected as blasphemy. But when someone claims on Pentecost that it was not God the Son but the Holy Spirit who came to His temple, then people often feel free to downgrade this second miracle of divine compassion by spinning their own fabrication, while the Church of the living God hardly notices it.

Therefore this sin in the Church about Pentecost must be resisted at all cost. In so far as Zion is so unspiritual as to be incapable of absorbing that deep mystery of salvation, she is piling up guilt upon guilt for herself. She earns for herself triple guilt over the Lord’s inheritance when He comes and Zion does not notice and she denigrates the coming of her God by rambling on about a coming of His power! No, if it were only for the sake of holier import or holier power or even a holier spirit, Pentecost would not have been necessary. The Psalmist sang of it and the prophet of Jehovah gave thanks for it. No, neither a holier spirit nor a sanctifying spirit, but the Holy Spirit came into His temple on Pentecost.

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The salvation of a soul lies in being known by God and, as a consequence, to know God; first partially, but, one day, as we are known. Every impulse, all straining and striving in the soul of a child of God must strain towards establishing abiding fellowship with the Eternal God in its closest and most intimate form. This must not just be pious language, desire or wish, but take the form of a straining and pressing of the soul; that soul is incapable of resting before it reaches this goal. Just as hunger arouses and allows no respite, so also must that homesickness of the soul arouse you. Or, to say it with the Psalmist, as a deer that has been hunted to exhaustion by dogs and can no longer run, thirsts and pants after fresh streams of water (Psalm 42:1), so every soul in Zion must pant and thirst after fresh streams of life that flow out of the living God.

Alas, the soul of all mankind has sunk so deep that they in themselves no longer seek God, but flee from Him; not chase after Him, but avoid Him; not love, but hate Him. In spite of this, God the Lord in His divine compassion comes and pours the thirst for life into that deteriorated and degenerated soul, even when that soul often does not acknowledge that thirst and chooses death instead. Then, when the time comes for the soul to meet God, it does not burst out in holy ecstasy but continues in its false imagination, “It is not He Himself, but His power!” As in the case of Simon the Sorcerer in Acts 8:10, so it is said of the Holy Spirit when He came on Pentecost, “The Great Power of God!”

But this takes its toll. For Zion, callous and unfeeling as she veers from her God, grieves the Holy Spirit, does Him reproach and thus necessarily deprives herself of His input and consolation.

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The cause of this sin is clear: our pride. Have you ever given deep thought to the difference between these two statements, “In the Holy Spirit on Pentecost God Himself came to me!” and “On Pentecost I became aware of divine power from on high?” Or don’t you sense either that, when the Lord God moves into His Zion, Zion must be still, bow down and blot itself out in order that God do it all, God work it all out, God fulfill it all so that at the end He receive all the glory?

But if Zion proclaims, “I received divine power on Pentecost,” then God is the giver of power, but Zion the possessor of power. This implies that it is Zion herself that now is going to operate with this holy power, pushes through with it and establishes it. And when everything comes to an end, then Zion, that is, the child or Church of God, will boast she has achieved it herself. Yes, with power from God, true, but still herself.

Many industrial machines were driven with power derived from steaming, boiling water. Rolling out the hard iron, plying it, boring it, shaving it, bending it—what human strength could do any of it? We used this new strength to bend that hard iron as if it were mere tissue paper. But listen carefully, for as a ship, made with this kind of machinery and driven by steam power, slides from the wharf into the water, what engineer will then praise God who provided the steam power? Rather, he will praise himself, “I have built that beautiful ship!”

Thatis the sin we are talking about. When power enters into us in our weakness, a power that enhances and strengthens us a hundred fold, and with that power we conquer a sin or we bring our body under our control, than we often pretend that we, the child of God, are the main actor who won the victory and all praise is reserved for us. Even if we respond with our lips, “Thanks be to God!” or “Praise God!”, this amounts to piling up one sin onto another, layer upon layer. Such comments are merely superficial, while in the depth of our hearts the sentiment remains, “It wasn’t God who did this, but we—or I.”

Oh, yes, this makes all the difference. Let me give you an example. You are the CEO of a powerful corporation, but things have run stuck and, due to your mistakes, the onus is on you. You have created a situation best described as plunder and confusion so that you have to go into bankruptcy proceedings. However, you try to rescue the situation by enlisting a power. That is to say, you hire a specialist to search out the problem, to create new capital so as to enable you to recover. In due time, all anxiety and all fear for the demise of your corporation has vanished. You emerge, of course, as the acknowledged hero. You pay your powerful specialist his due and all obligations are taken care of.

Now take it a step in another direction. You cannot find any help with the power to rescue your corporation, but someone else turns up and makes you an offer, “I will rescue you, but I have to receive the credit. You just sit there and I will do it all for you, but make sure I am the acknowledged saviour.” The plan works; your corporation is back in business, but you have kept yourself in the background, while your saviour receives all the credit and honour.

This first example says it precisely. Anyone who says, “I received power from the Holy Spirit,” rescues himself with the help of the power he received. He may express his thanks with some kind of offering and consider all dues paid, but he receives the credit. On the other hand, in the second example, the Spirit pushes aside the ego in your heart, takes over and replaces you. He proceeds with the rescue and restores your soul. Everybody sees what is happening and who is doing what. They all step back in the acknowledgement that the Holy Spirit has rescued you.

There you have it. Either the Holy Spirit is regarded as a power made available to you for you to do your magic as the engineer with steam and electric power does his, or it is the Spirit as your Saviour, who makes you recognize your lost condition and then receives the credit and walks off with all the honour. This is where the immeasurable distance lies between the sin of Pentecost and the Pentecostal Soli Deo Gloria! for your God.

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All of this depends on love.

Whom do you love on Pentecost? Yourself or your God? And please do not say, “My God, of course!” Even if you’re not serious, you could say that, for in your sinful nature there resides a consciousness that tells you, “That’s how it must be.” The fact that it isn’t that way embarrasses you. It is even possible that you imagine yourself to be in a genuinely holy state. But if you dig deep down to the root of your spirit and test your soul right down in the innermost region of your heart, you would not be a child of God unless you would truthfully recognize and confess with inner pain in your heart, “No, no, the love for myself still overpowers me.”

It isn’t that you would not bring any offering or that you would not renounce anything or even refuse to go out of the way for your God. However, all of this would not touch the deeper mainspring of your heart.

The desire to be saved is in itself a form of self-love. The desire to be a child of God is also to love yourself. To be counted among the pious and holy is something that can be flattering. The real touchstone of love is only whether you are jealous for the honour, praise and glory of your God.

Salvation is to realize between you and God that He is right and you are wrong, that He is righteous and you unrighteous and, thus, guilty. It includes your acknowledgement of your own unrighteousness and guilt without minimizing it in any way, not because you could not carry the load and were convinced, but because you could not bear the thought that there might be even a smattering of wrong with God or even some minimum of guilt with the Most High.

Love for God is to love Him more than the pupil of your eye. It is to prefer the honour of your Lord above your own. It is to be consumed inwardly by worship and adoration of the graciousness of the Eternal One so that you cannot keep your eyes off Him and are passionate about the beauty of your God who appears in full glory in Zion.

It is not a matter of calculating, “God did this for me, thus I need to do something for Him!” No deliberation: “He is my God and thus I must prostrate myself before Him in adoration!” But as a child, upon seeing a beautiful fire display, cannot keep it within herself but shouts it out in excitement, so you must shout out in amazement and wonderment about the splendour of His majesty and the glory of His graciousness. You are to proclaim the graciousness of Him who has called you into His marvelous light! All this not because, after checking it all out, you have rationally come to the conclusion that it is all beautiful and true, but because it has enraptured you, carried you away, and overwhelmed, consumed you inwardly in adoration.

Love is to be incapable of anything other than to love. It is the love in the depth of your soul for the Eternal One. It is a pleading, “Come, Lord, and speak to my soul!” It is pining to be near Him; not being able to live outside of Him. It is to see nothing else but Him when He comes, to think of nothing but His glory, and to be blessed in losing yourself in the Lord your God.

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And what is the nature of this love? Is it a case of this love being there first, after which the Lord comes and this waiting love now gets focused on Him? Quite the contrary. The sun cannot be seen unless it first shines its rays by which you see her. Similarly, Zion calls out to her God, “Lord, we see light only in Your light!” No, this love does not originate with you in order to direct itself towards Him. He Himself inspires and evokes it within you; He Himself pours it into you. That sole Object of your most holy love Himself ignites the spark in you that will light the fire of love in your soul for Him.

Yes, even when He occasionally hides to test your love and to see whether, not seeing Him, you still love Him, even then it is His dimmed radiance that causes this love to continue in you. It is not your heart that has enough love in itself to love Him, but it is your precious God, who is able to penetrate the soul of His child and nurture the gift of love in you. It is not your eye that finds the light, but the light attracts your eye and has itself trained your eye to see it.

For example, a new-born infant is shy of bright light so that you need to shield its half opened eyes with your hand. Even you yourself shut your eyes momentarily, when you suddenly enter a lighted place out of the darkness. And so it is with this divine Light. Left to itself, the eye of your soul would avoid it and shut, but it is from this Light itself that the eye of your soul learns to gaze upon Him.

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That is the reason the holy Apostle raves of a love that has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. It is not that this love has any material substance like water of its own that lives in our soul as an ingredient in its own right, but more like the light that pours its rays into the valley and into the deepest clefts of the mountains. That is how the Holy Spirit pours His light into the crevices and cracks of your heart. Wherever that light penetrates, there the moldy place turns green and blooms; the germ raises its head; a new dynamic develops and life begins to flourish. Ah, then the flower opens up to the rays of the sun and turns to the light. It is this kind of love that pulls the souls of God’s children to Him.

When the sun shines on quiet waters, it transforms drops of water into vapour. This warmed up steam then rises above the waters towards the sun and forms clouds. That is the way the rays of the Eternal Love work on an abandoned soul. At first it floats as a drop of water in the cold waters. But then come those rays of light over the water of the soul that it catches and it in turn then warms the soul. Next, the warmth makes the soul more pliable so that it loses its stiffness, whereupon she at last ascends upward to the Fountain of her light.

And that is precisely the glory of Pentecost. It is not God Himself just coming over you in Paradise with a local wind that happened to be blowing at the time.... No, it is God penetrating into your own spirit and being to live in the innermost chambers of your soul.

And so the great Pentecost question to you is whether you are willing to be absorbed through this divine penetration into the depth of your being? Whether you are willing, using the example used above, to be transformed from flowing water to ascending vapour, no longer searching, removing all your own weight, and now ascend in tender love to Him who draws you?

Of course, all this takes place away from the multitude. For them this is the equivalence of being full of sweet wine. The world regards this as fanaticism and the semi-righteous as overdone. But that’s how it must be.

These blessings emerge from the mystery of salvation, which is revealed only to the children of God and only according to His covenant of peace.